The Department of Health (DOH) said there is no reason for the public to panic over the detection of the Omicron variant in the Philippines, but reminded the people that there should be no room for complacency in following health protocols at this point in time.

“We should not panic. Hindi rin kailangan matakot. Ang kailangan natin ay maging cautious tayo, maging focus tayo. Ang kailangan natin walang complacency ngayon (No need to fear. All we need to do is be cautious, be focused. What we need now is to avoid complacency),” said DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Thursday, Dec. 16. Vergeire also urged the public to immediately get vaccinated against COVID-19.

On Wednesday, the DOH reported the country's first two cases of the Omicron variant in two travelers who arrived from Japan and Nigeria.

Vergeire said that all co-passengers of the two Omicron variant cases underwent quarantine upon their arrival in the Philippines.

“Gusto kong ulitin, lahat ng sumakay sa PAL flight na iyan at Oman Airways flight na iyan were quarantined when they came here in the country. Na-quarantine sila ng limang araw base sa ating IATF protocols, tinest sila on the fifth day, lahat ng nagnegatibo pinauwi para mag home quarantine or self-monitor (I want to repeat, everyone who boarded that PAL flight and that Oman Airways flight were quarantined when they came here in the country. They were quarantined for five days based on our IATF protocols, they were then tested on the fifth day. All those who tested negative were sent home for home quarantine or self-monitoring),” she said.

“Yung nag positibo stayed in isolation facilities. Yung nagpositibo sa Omicron ay nasa isolation facility. Hindi po natin sila madi-discharge pa hanggang wala silang negative RT-PCR. Again, hindi po natin kailangan i-quarantine lahat kung 200 man ang nakasakay diyan para atin pong itest dahil sila ay nagtest na ng negative (Those who were found positive stayed in isolation facilities. Those who tested positive for Omicron were in the isolation facility. We will not be able to discharge them until they have a negative RT-PCR. Again, we don't need to quarantine everyone if there are 200 people on board for us to test them because they have already tested negative),” she added.

“We are just asking for all of these passengers to monitor themselves. Kung may mararamdaman po tayo, tayo ay makipag coordinate agad sa local government. But napakaliit na po ng risk ng ating mga kababayan na ito para magkaroon ng sakit na ito (If ever they will experience anything, coordinate immediately with the local government. But the risk of these people contracting this disease is very small),” she furthered.

In a television interview on Thursday, infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante said the co-passengers of the Omicron variant cases should be traced and get tested for COVID-19.

"The contact there might not just be inside the plane. There may be contact prior to boarding, or during the time when these two passengers were around their co-passengers," he said in an interview over CNN Philippines.

"We don't know. To be safe, all of those inside the planes should be tested and contact-traced," he said.

The DOH called on those passengers onboard the Oman Air flight WY 843 last Nov. 30 and Philippine Airlines flight 0427 last Dec. 1 to contact their respective government units or the DOH hotlines (02) 894-6843 or 1555 “at the first sign of COVID-19 symptoms” and “get the “assistance they need.”

Stricter alert level

Vergeire said there is no reason yet to impose stricter alert levels in some areas of the Philippines amid the threat of the Omicron variant.

The DOH spokesperson said that “we should always look at that balance between our health and economy because when the economy is down, it also affects health.”

“Sa ngayon wala pa tayong rason para itaas agad uli ang ating mga alert level system. Tayo po ay patuloy na magmamatyag at magmomonitor para makita natin. The very first sign na makakakita tayo na parang tataas ang mga kaso, hindi po tayo magaantay or magdedelay sa response na iyan (So far we have no reason to raise our alert level systems just yet. We will continue to observe and monitor the situation. The very first sign that we will see that the cases will increase anew, we will not wait or delay that response),” she said.

“Sa ngayon, atin muna nating imonitor ang sitwasyon and titingnan natin (For now, we will first monitor the situation and we will see) in the coming days if we need to or increase our alert level systems so we can have more restrictions,” she added.

The Philippines will remain under Alert Level 2 from Dec. 16 to 31, said Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles in a press briefing on Wednesday.